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In the Second Age, Narsil was an heirloom of the descendants of Elros, the first King of Númenor. Although nothing is said of Narsil during this period, it eventually came into the hands of Elendil, a distant descendant, towards the close of the Second Age.

Elendil carried Narsil in the Battle of Dagorlad where it shone with the light of the Sun and Moon, and then in the Siege of Barad-dûr; but Sauron killed him and the sword broke into two pieces under him as he fell, and its light was extinguished. Elendil's son Isildur took up the sword and used its shard to cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron.[1] Isildur took the shards home with him. Shortly before Isildur was killed in the second year of the Third Age in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, the shards were rescued by Ohtar, esquire of Isildur[2]. He took them to Rivendell, where Isildur's youngest son Valandil was fostered, but Elrond foretold that it wouldn't be forged again until the One Ring was found again and Sauron returned.[1]

Narsil is a Quenya name meaning "red and white flame".[3][4] The name is said to consist of the stems NAR ("fire"; cf. nár "fire") + THIL ("white light"). It was a symbolic name, pointing to the Sun and the Moon, the "chief heavenly lights, as enemies of darkness".[5]

Narsil was not broken in two but in several parts, and by Sauron stepping on it instead of it breaking as Elendil fell.

Unlike in the book, Aragorn does not bear them with him, but are kept on a display in Rivendell. Boromir drops the hilt on the floor and Aragorn is seen reverently replacing it back into the display. The sword is not reforged into Andúril until the third film.

The reforging of Narsil is experienced by the player in the quest arc called "The Blade that was Broken". The player sets out to find the last of the Silithair, shining adamants crafted by Elves of the house of Fëanor in days of old, in order for the Elf-smiths of Imladris to reforge the sword.[6]